Fernando Morientes's brief and uninspiring spell in English football ended last night when the Spaniard left Liverpool for Valencia in a deal worth about £3m, less than half of the fee paid to Real Madrid to sign the striker only 16 months ago.

Valencia beat off competition from Real Betis, Espanyol and the Turkish club Fenerbahce to sign the 30-year-old, who was omitted from Spain's squad for the World Cup finals after struggling for form and fitness at Anfield last season. The Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez received a telephone call from Valencia's sporting director Amedeo Carboni this week about Morientes's availability and, after some haggling over the fee, the deal was struck last night.

The move brings to an end a somewhat tortured spell in the Premiership for a player who arrived on Merseyside apparently boasting genuine pedigree after excelling at Real, with whom he won three European Cups, and during a season on loan at Monaco. He reached the Champions League final with the principality's side as well only to lose to Porto but, having moved to England for £6.3m, he was cup-tied for Liverpool's victory in the showpiece in Istanbul a year ago. There were then occasional flashes of class but he failed miserably to make a sustained impression on the Premiership and mustered only 12 goals in his 61 appearances for Benítez at Liverpool.

Morientes, who had two years to run on his contract on Merseyside, will welcome the opportunity to return to La Liga having conceded that he had "never felt right" at Liverpool. "I cannot stay if I don't play," he said last week on learning that Benítez hoped to recruit new faces up front.

Chelsea will be kept waiting to learn whether Andriy Shevchenko will join them next season. The Milan striker was to have told the Serie A club of his intentions yesterday but his meeting with the vice-president Adriano Galliani was postponed until tonight.

The unsettled Argentina striker Hernán Crespo has said that Chelsea have offered to extend his contract: "Although I have two years still on my contract, they offered me a renewal." But he added: "My intention would be to return to Italy or [go to] Spain."